"Setback" in "War on Drugs"

First, I think the "War on Drugs" is about as illusion-filled as the wars on "hate" and "poverty." I think drugs are scourge in modern society, but the gov't has used that to over-reach for at least a generation.

Several observations:
1 - The USN probably shouldn't have been involved in the first place. Yeah, yeah, posse comitatus only applies in CONUS, but the bigger picture is that the military isn't supposed to do civilian law enforcement.

2 - There's bunches of made-up numbers about what percentage of drugs were interdicted. I hate it when they do that.

3 - To me, this is really burying the lede:

Flights of Navy P-3 reconnaissance aircraft based in El Salvador will continue for now, Barker said.

Wait - what? We have P-3s based in... El Salvador?

Are we really that worried about sea-based military threats emanating from South America? Those Chileans, man... they are our REAL enemy. (Apply your own purple, as necessary.)

Don't get me wrong - I am all for a big umbrella to shield the US. But... is that REALLY the best use of those resources?

How about this... why don't we close useless bases like this one, that apparently ONLY has a role in the War on Drugs, and actually send CVNs to places that might actually have enemies.

With all the talk about using drones on civilians, why not reposition some drones to start patrolling our coasts instead? It seems like this could be a more cost effective way of patrolling, and then having smaller, more agile coast guard or other ships available on standby to take the bad guys down.

I agree that the "war on drugs" is useless, but at the same time these guys are some bad seeds crossing our border and something needs to be done about them.

Some would consider the smuggling of illegal narcotics into this country an attack of sorts, thereby justifying the use of the military outside CONUS to fight it.

The drug cartels are sending submarines full of dope to US shores. It wouldn't be too difficult to smuggle a variety of weapons (or people) capable of significant damage in one of these vehicles. I'd much prefer the US Navy flying security over our border, regardless of the intended pursuit, than flying through the middle east.

There's lots of ________ on here who don't fit your particular stereotype, smearing us with goofball sophistry is what is out of line. It just makes gunowners look like *******s.

Some would consider the smuggling of illegal narcotics into this country an attack of sorts, thereby justifying the use of the military outside CONUS to fight it.

The drug cartels are sending submarines full of dope to US shores. It wouldn't be too difficult to smuggle a variety of weapons (or people) capable of significant damage in one of these vehicles. I'd much prefer the US Navy flying security over our border, regardless of the intended pursuit, than flying through the middle east.

If they could actually stop people from coming across the border I might believe they could stop drugs from coming across the border.

just legalize the drugs, bring them above board and the prices and profit motive will fall off the cliff. the bad guys are in drug smuggling and distribution because the money is in it.

Make pot and cocaine and everything else legal and the street price falls to nothing. You'll get Walmart selling dope for pennies and the bad guys will have no incentive.

We've spent over $1 trillion dollars on the "War on Drugs" and it has bought us what exactly? I'm pretty sure drug usage isn't down, I'm pretty sure drugs still flow across the borders and from South America like they always have. Dope is being grown everywhere and it's dangerous to get off the trail and go into the back country in much of the country now.

Our prisons are full with drug convicts. Our courts are backlogged with drug cases. Cops spend much of their time dicking around with drug users and dealers.

All of it is dumb. It's another manufactured crisis that government uses to assume more power. "War on Poverty" makes it worse. War on Drugs - worse. War on ....... it's all a scam.

Yes we do. We have a global network of P-3s patrolling 24/7 tracking submarine movements. Considering its geographical location, El Salvador is a good place for a base.

The primary mission of the P-3s is NOT to track drugs, but to track submarines. As it happens, there are only a few foreign subs that venture into that part of the world, so the Navy helps out as it keeps the crews sharp.

This is your usual political story designed to draw up fear when the P-3s would be flying as usual, just focusing on their original mission.

There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
-Anonymous